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Rohit explains reason behind animated gesture towards Ishan before declaration vs WI: 'I wanted to tell him to get...'
Rohit Sharma didn't look pleased with Ishan Kishan right before India's declaration in the first innings against West Indies.
Team India registered a dominant innings-and-141-run win over West Indies in the first Test of the series in Dominica, thus making a winning start to the new World Test Championship cycle. Ravichandran Ashwin was the star of Day 3 for India, as he picked seven wickets in the second Windies innings, running through their batting order as the hosts folded for merely 130. India had earlier declared their innings at 421/5 during the first session of the day.
There were, however, speculations over the way Rohit Sharma had declared the Indian innings; the India captain seemed displeased and let his frustration known with his gesture towards wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan, who took 20 deliveries to open his account in the innings. Many deduced that Rohit would've wanted Ishan – a naturally aggressive batter – to score at a quick pace as India had to declare the innings. However, Rohit finally opened up on the moment during the post-match presentation.
The India skipper stated that he wanted Ishan to open his account before calling the batters back in the hut, and even revealed that he let the batters known that they only have “an over or so” before the declaration. When Ishan had played 19 deliveries, Rohit emerged from the dressing room, ready in his whites, and had an animated gesture for Ishan, urging the batter to get a move on.
“I was just letting them know we have an over or so before declaring. I wanted Ishan to get off the mark, wanted to tell him to get his personal mark and then we had to declare. I could see that he was always eager to bat, it could be frustrating for them,” Rohit said.
Following Rohit's gesture, Ishan promptly took a run off the very next delivery and the India captain declared the innings straightaway.
The 36-year-old was also pleased India's bowling efforts and lauded Ashwin for his match-winning performance in the game. The off-spinner picked 12 wickets in the match, with a fifer across both innings.
"I would like to start by saying it was a great effort with the ball. Getting them out for 150 set the game for us. We knew batting would get tough, it wasn't easy to score runs. We knew we wanted to bat only once and bat long. Get over 400 runs and then we came out and bowled really well," he said.
The results speak for themselves, they have been doing it for a while. There isn't much to tell them, it is about giving them the freedom to express. The experience these guys have on pitches like this is always a luxury. Both Ash and Jadeja were superb, specially Ashwin for coming out and bowling this way was class."
